Doogie Howzaboutdat?

November 3, 2006 7:35 PM

Doogie comes out of the closet. While this probably falls under the category "yeah, like we didn't know that already," it's nice to see younger male celebrities finally admit publicly what everyone gossips about privately.
posted by WolfDaddy (75 comments total)

I knew it. Can't never trust them doctors.
posted by Big_B at 7:36 PM on November 3, 2006

i thought he had come out years and years ago.
posted by litlnemo at 7:38 PM on November 3, 2006

Or them preachers.
posted by nyxxxx at 7:38 PM on November 3, 2006

Why is it nice? Why should we care? It's none of my business if he's gay or straight. It has no effect on my enjoyment or lack thereof, of his work. I don't get celebrity worship or even plain ol' nosiness really.
posted by acetonic at 7:39 PM on November 3, 2006 [1 favorite]

I'm usually able to pick up the hints, but this one surprised me. Kudos to him for taking the wind out of the guessers' sails.
posted by Kickstart70 at 7:40 PM on November 3, 2006

Doogie Howser, M.D. is an anagram of "wee homo digs rod".

Just sayin'.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 7:41 PM on November 3, 2006 [11 favorites]

Well, he's no fat lesbian, that's for sure.
posted by briank at 7:41 PM on November 3, 2006

Aw, man.

Harold: Neil, you wouldn't happen to know how to get on the highway from here, would you?
Neil Patrick Harris: Dude, I don't even know where the fuck I am right now. I was at this party earlier tonight and some guy hooked me up with this incredible "X" - next thing I know I'm being thrown out of a moving car. I've been trippin' balls ever since.
Kumar: That's crazy, dude. We've been having a pretty crazy, night, too. We've just been driving around looking for White Castle but we keep getting sidetracked.
Neil Patrick Harris: Yeah, dude, you fascinate me. Forget White Castle, let's go get some pussy!
Harold: Huh?
Neil Patrick Harris: It's a fucking sausage fest in here, bros. Let's get some poontang, THEN we'll go to White Castle.
Kumar: No, Neil, you don't understand. We've been craving these burgers all night.
Neil Patrick Harris: Yeah, I've been craving burgers, too. Furburgers. Come on, dudes, let's pick up some trim at a strip club. The Doogie line always works on strippers.
[sings]
Neil Patrick Harris: Lapdance...
Kumar: [pause] There's a gas station. I'm gonaa see if I can get some directions.
Neil Patrick Harris: You don't need dir- gah! Hurry up, dudes, hurry up! I'm losing wood.
[they park, pause]
Neil Patrick Harris: Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry...
posted by snarkywench at 7:42 PM on November 3, 2006

I realize that no one watches How I Met Your Mother, but that's a shame, because Harris is one of the funniest actors working on TV and people still just refer to him as "Doogie."

That one's following him to his deathbed, it seems.
posted by Simon! at 7:54 PM on November 3, 2006

Now even I am beginning to miss the img tag...
posted by Effigy2000 at 7:54 PM on November 3, 2006

Why is it nice? Why should we care? It's none of my business if he's gay or straight. It has no effect on my enjoyment or lack thereof, of his work. I don't get celebrity worship or even plain ol' nosiness really.

It's nice because people coming out adds visibility, and visibility reduces fear of "the other."
posted by John Kenneth Fisher at 7:55 PM on November 3, 2006

acetonic, I could share a little story about how Neil and I both grew up in the same small New Mexico town, about how I was the only out teenager in high school, about how I ended up being a reluctant role model for those gay folks still in the closet while I was in high school, and how I know I was the first gay person Neil ever met and quite possibly a role model for him, and so to see things come full circle with his coming out and the enormous good he can do by becoming visibly out and happy makes me very very happy, but I don't think you'd understand.

So never mind.
posted by WolfDaddy at 7:59 PM on November 3, 2006 [9 favorites]

snarkywench, you beat me to referencing Harold and Kumar. It makes the whole nymphomaniac thing he pulled off that more interesting.

Here's 50 bucks for the burgers and 200 for the car.

What happened to my car?

I made some love stains in the back seat. You'll see.

posted by bardic at 8:02 PM on November 3, 2006

I second Simon! re: NPH on How I Met Your Mother. He's fun to watch.
posted by jikel_morten at 8:02 PM on November 3, 2006

Does the 'N Sync guy really look like that? Or is that just a terribly unflattering photo?
posted by Ceiling Cat at 8:10 PM on November 3, 2006

Jesus, crash, that took you six minutes?!?
posted by yhbc at 8:15 PM on November 3, 2006

I thought he had come out a while ago too--around when he was on Will & Grace as an "ex-gay".

Good for him!


Dear Diary,

Today I came out.

Love, Doogie

: >
posted by amberglow at 8:15 PM on November 3, 2006

First Kumar goes to jail, now Neil Patrick Harris is gay (have you ever noticed that guys who play massive girl-chasers are always gay in real life?).

What's going to happen to Harold?
posted by dirigibleman at 8:18 PM on November 3, 2006

Gay or not, he is hilarious on How I Met Your Mother. I guess him being gay just makes him an even more impressive actor.
posted by graventy at 8:22 PM on November 3, 2006

Good God, how long have you been waiting to tell that to the world?

(Wolfdaddy doesn't mention that they were friends when they were both younger.)
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 8:23 PM on November 3, 2006

How 'bout that — Santorum was off by just one letter!
posted by rob511 at 8:34 PM on November 3, 2006

NOT NEIL PATRICK HARRIS NOOOOOOOOOO OH GOD WHY?
posted by loquacious at 8:36 PM on November 3, 2006

Neil's boyfriend. The original item that sparked Neil's publicist to initially deny the gay thing, and then Neil to admit it (scroll down). And some fun trashy gossip.
posted by mediareport at 8:41 PM on November 3, 2006

George Takei, Rob Halford . . . am I noticing a pattern of "celebrities" waiting until years after they're fully washed-up to "come-out"?
posted by dgaicun at 8:46 PM on November 3, 2006

My girlfriend saw NPH on some studio lot a few months ago. Coolest thing about him: He drives the exact same car as me.

Granted, it's a silver Prius, which is ubiquitous in LA. But still.

Anyway, rock on, Doogie.
posted by hifiparasol at 8:47 PM on November 3, 2006

Really, I'm just waiting for Rush Limbaugh to come out of the closet and Anne Coulter to reveal she's trans.

Not because I think that she's a not-woman-man or anything stupid like that but just because that would be hot. Wait, no, not Rush. Anne.

Rush... that's just gross man. I mean, more power to him, but whether he's hetereo, homo or robosexual he's about as sexually appealing as a fog-induced 500 flying car pileup in Giant Ooky Mutant Slug Town. I've met distended, infected mucuous membranes that were more stimulating. The mere thought is like an eternally looping high def macro shot of sea turtles laying eggs. Ick, man. Ick.
posted by loquacious at 8:49 PM on November 3, 2006

George Takei, Rob Halford . . . am I noticing a pattern of "celebrities" waiting until years after they're fully washed-up to "come-out"?

Next up: Richard Grieco
posted by brundlefly at 8:53 PM on November 3, 2006

NPH made Harold and Kumar way funnier than I thought it would be. Rock on, doogie.
posted by mathowie at 8:53 PM on November 3, 2006

god i miss the image tag.

Good on ya, Doog.
posted by cortex at 8:56 PM on November 3, 2006

Hmm, I never really thought about it. Nor do I really care about his orientation. I still like him in movies I've seen though I've never made any attempt to see his latest tv show.
posted by fenriq at 8:58 PM on November 3, 2006

Dgaicun: George Takei, Rob Halford . . . am I noticing a pattern of "celebrities" waiting until years after they're fully washed-up to "come-out"?

NPH has been in the current hit TV show How I Met Your Mother for at least a couple years now. I don't watch the show regularly, but have seen it a couple times and thought it was pretty funny. He's a talented actor.
posted by mijuta at 8:59 PM on November 3, 2006

am I noticing a pattern of "celebrities" waiting until years after they're fully washed-up to "come-out"?

No. In fact, this is clearly the counter-example to whatever pattern you're noticing, being clear evidence instead for WolfDaddy's original point - this is a young, active male star taking the plunge (after a bit of a push from the gossip press). However little he's been in your particular line of sight, Harris is far from "washed up." He's been working in theatre pretty successfully for the last few years; hell, in this 2004 chat session linked from his Wikipedia page, he responds to someone's praise for choosing Broadway over Hollywood with a refreshingly honest, "Thanks...But I'll have you know I'm clearing well over $150,000 per week for Assassins."

It's a bizarro world where that counts as "fully washed up," for sure.
posted by mediareport at 9:00 PM on November 3, 2006

Neil Patrick Harris is fantastic in "Assasins".

Wait, does that make me gay, too?
posted by ColdChef at 9:06 PM on November 3, 2006

yes, coldchef. Very.

Now my childhood crushes and the fanfic I tried to make my friends write are half way justified. All I need to do is turn Wil Wheaton...
posted by aristan at 9:21 PM on November 3, 2006

Um, Doogie didn't come out. NPH came out. Doogie is a character that NPH played. Or are you that same asshole that upon meeting an actor in real life insists on refering to him as the character you remember him as?
posted by Rhomboid at 9:21 PM on November 3, 2006

Says the man who refers to him by his initials.
posted by smackfu at 9:25 PM on November 3, 2006

"I am trippin balls right now..."
posted by grytpype at 9:37 PM on November 3, 2006

Have to say... I could care less and I wish him all the best.

He's funny as hell on How I Met Your Mother and is pretty much the third reason I watch that show (of course, behind Alyson Hannigan and however the chick is who play Ted's girlfriend).
posted by i_am_a_Jedi at 9:37 PM on November 3, 2006

Has Ralph Macchio come out yet?
posted by Faint of Butt at 9:50 PM on November 3, 2006

NPH was also in Starship Troopers, which I'm very fond of. After that movie I stopped calling him Doogie.
posted by The God Complex at 9:51 PM on November 3, 2006

How I Met Your Mother is a surprisingly good show, a real diamond in the rough of primetime network television.

I only Tivo about 3 shows a week from primetime, and this is one of them. Anyone who likes NPH should definitely catch an episode or 10.
posted by Ynoxas at 9:54 PM on November 3, 2006

It's a shame he'll have to spend an eternity in the flaming pit of hell.
posted by 2sheets at 10:28 PM on November 3, 2006

It's a shame he'll have to spend an eternity in the flaming pit of hell.
posted by 2sheets at 10:30 PM on November 3, 2006

Two eternities is a long time. But if he wears that sexy black leather trenchcoat he wore in Starship Troopers, he should be cozy through the ordeal.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 10:42 PM on November 3, 2006

i thought he had come out years and years ago.

He did! He's always dated men and never hid the fact, he just didn't call up every news outlet on the face of the earth to talk about it. The only reason why he's done a Sheople interview now is because that shiteous slug Perez Hilton has been lying about it (saying NPH denied being gay) to create more buzz for his very popular, very questionable gossip blog.

I'm also a big fan of How I Met Your Mother. Started watching because of Alyson Hannigan, kept watching because of Neil Patrick Harris.
posted by zarah at 11:01 PM on November 3, 2006

Doogie's Republican?
posted by orthogonality at 11:07 PM on November 3, 2006

Good for you, Neil. You know what they say about guys with big foreheads.... They have ...throbbing....giant... comedic careers.
posted by maryh at 11:10 PM on November 3, 2006

(I went to college with Josh Radnor. Reviewed his performances in a few plays. Nice guy.)
posted by bardic at 11:14 PM on November 3, 2006

very questionable gossip blog.

Redundancy! :)
posted by The God Complex at 11:34 PM on November 3, 2006

1986:
Actor: I'm gay.
Public: Omigawd! Your career may already be over. Are you dying of AIDS?

1996:
Actor: I'm gay.
Public: What a monumental thing! Let's put you on the front cover of a major magazine and talk about it on talk radio all week.

2006:
Actor: I'm gay.
Public: And you're telling us this why? Because you think we care? Just don't get married, 'k?

2016:
Actor: I'm straight.
Public: OMGWTF!!?! There are still heterosexuals not in captivity?
posted by dw at 11:50 PM on November 3, 2006

♥ NPH
posted by StrasbourgSecaucus at 11:54 PM on November 3, 2006

Redundancy! :)

Heh, true that. Get back to writing your novel, you big time waster you!
posted by zarah at 11:56 PM on November 3, 2006

"Um, Doogie didn't come out. NPH came out. Doogie is a character that NPH played. Or are you that same asshole that upon meeting an actor in real life insists on refering to him as the character you remember him as?"

No, he's the same kind of an asshole that would probably call an old friend by his name. You're just the generic sort of asshole.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 12:52 AM on November 4, 2006

In college, I briefly dated a semi-well known lesbian movie starlet while she was still experimenting with guys. We met when we started making out in a karaoke bar. After we broke up (because I couldn't stand her friends, of all things) she was soon in the paper because of making out with a girl in a karaoke bar. I was pissed, because our tryst never made the paper. I won't out her here, for fear of many things, though I suspect she's happily out anyway.

The point is that I learned how different it was to be in the public eye, and how difficult that can truly be. I'm sure it's great to be famous, but imagine having everything you do possibly ending up in print in somebody's wildest misinterpretation, and having people constantly coming up to you simply to confirm that you were in a movie or t.v. show they saw, only to then stretch it out into a conversation with no other purpose other than to later say that they had the conversation itself, and it would soon get tiresome. I'm not saying feel sorry for these people. I'm just saying that fame is far less fun than you'd think.

I later dated a girl who looked almost identical to Kate Hudson, which I won't complain about, but we'd be having an intimate conversation on the subway platform and notice someone's flash go off before they ran away. Papparazzi are ludicrous, and generally not very good, people.

The point of all of this is that for NPH to come out, in the public eye, is braver than you might think. There's been blissfully little snarking on this thread, but I'm just letting you know.
posted by Navelgazer at 1:03 AM on November 4, 2006

Coming as it does a scant few days before a national election, it is obviously that this is a Rovian scheme to create a wedge issue.


/Got nuthin' ...
posted by RavinDave at 2:21 AM on November 4, 2006

He's always dated men and never hid the fact

Er, his publicist did announce "he's not of that persuasion" just a few days ago, after the canada.com item about Neil getting his boyfriend a spot on How I Met Your Mother. I mean, gawker and similar sites have been posting fey pics of him for a while now, so it hasn't been a total secret, but there was a denial as late as Nov. 2nd. Perhaps it was just a miscommunication, but I'm guessing the new item, coming in the midst of the Ted Haggard closet case mess, finally convinced Neil he should take that last final step and just make the announcement.
posted by mediareport at 6:27 AM on November 4, 2006

NPH was also in Starship Troopers, which I'm very fond of. After that movie I stopped calling him Doogie.

That's just you. After Starship Troopers, most people -- *sensible* people -- started calling him Obersturmbannführer Doogie.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 7:30 AM on November 4, 2006

Rob Halford is not washed up.

and Neil Patrick Harris did an excellent guest spot on Homicide as a sociopathic killer a few years back. He is capable of playing characters other than campy goofballs.
posted by jonmc at 7:48 AM on November 4, 2006

dougie donnelly is gay ?
posted by sgt.serenity at 8:49 AM on November 4, 2006

I swear to god I figured this out when he was on NPR promoting RENT (he was in the L.A. production). He exclaimed in the campiest of voices, but utterly serious, "I just fell in love with the soundtrack! I put it on and sing in the car ..."

No, I'm not kidding.
posted by dhartung at 9:43 AM on November 4, 2006

Yes, yes, and we sooo haven't evenseen the last of George Takei. I get it. I get it.

YerFavoriteCelebrityIsAWashedUpNobody


. . . Filter
posted by dgaicun at 10:06 AM on November 4, 2006

I never watched Doogie Howser so my first real experience with his acting was in Undercover Brother (where he stole every scene he was in) then Harold and Kumar (where he stole every scene he was in) and now on How I Met your Mother, (where he... you get the idea).

As long as it doesn't change his acting style, I couldn't care less that he's gay.
posted by quin at 11:59 AM on November 4, 2006

about as sexually appealing as a fog-induced 500 flying car pileup in Giant Ooky Mutant Slug Town. I've met distended, infected mucuous membranes that were more stimulating. The mere thought is like an eternally looping high def macro shot of sea turtles laying eggs. Ick, man. Ick.

I have just enshrined this in my secret collection of quotes that make me feel happy all over.
posted by jokeefe at 12:48 PM on November 4, 2006

He really has absolutely no hotness at all--it's that head of his.

Now, when's Patrick Dempsey coming out? He grew up to be gorgeous : >
posted by amberglow at 12:56 PM on November 4, 2006

I have only this:

This morning stalk out to the kitchen like a zombie, I could smell my wife had made coffee. She was sitting on the couch reading.

"Good Morning...yaaaawn." I lean over to kiss her.

She looks up, says "Morning, honey. Niel Patrick Harris came out." Kisses me.

"To Seattle.. huh..? What?" Rubbing my eyes.

"No. Doogie Howser. He came out of the closet. He's gay. I heard it on the TEE vee."

"Oh. Do we have any coffee left." Sitting next to her.

"Yes... I'd still fuck him, by the way." She makes hump gesture and continues reading.

"I know.... crap we're out of cream."
posted by tkchrist at 1:56 PM on November 4, 2006 [1 favorite]

She makes hump gesture and continues reading.
"I know.... crap we're out of cream."

Nice segue.
posted by rob511 at 2:14 PM on November 4, 2006

He really has absolutely no hotness at all--it's that head of his.

Oh, amberglow. How could you. He is adorkable. The goofy grin makes me want to have sex with him or bake him cookies. Or possibly bake him cookies while having sex...

Ok. I'm going to another thread now.
posted by aristan at 2:37 PM on November 4, 2006

This thread has inspired me. I will finally come out of the closet: I too am a How I Met Your Mother watcher.
posted by IvyMike at 3:54 PM on November 4, 2006 [2 favorites]

In college, I briefly dated ... I was pissed, because our tryst never made the paper.

The point is that I learned how different it was ...

I later dated ...

posted by Navelgazer

It's a shame he'll have to spend an eternity in the flaming pit of hell.
posted by 2sheets at 10:28 PM PST on November 3

It's a shame he'll have to spend an eternity in the flaming pit of hell.
posted by 2sheets at 10:30 PM PST on November 3


Eponysterics abound.
posted by nasreddin at 4:12 PM on November 4, 2006

It'll be nice when the day comes that it won't make any difference to anyone, and we won't care whether someone is hetero or homo. More imporant is the quality of the individual.
posted by cjburton at 8:55 PM on November 4, 2006

It'll be nice when the day comes that it won't make any difference to anyone, and we won't care whether someone is hetero or homo. More imporant is the quality of the individual.

Well, at least we'll always have the Jews to fall back on.

/ I kid, I kid.
posted by erskelyne at 10:22 PM on November 4, 2006

How I Met Your Mother is one of, if not the, funniest things on tv right now. And quite frankly, his portrayal of the character Barney is what makes the show as much of a success as it is. Suit up!
posted by nightchrome at 11:50 PM on November 4, 2006

Nightchrome, you're totally right. Barney is easily one of my favourite characters on TV at the moment. That show rocks my socks off.
posted by antifuse at 5:10 AM on November 5, 2006

Mediareport: You stopped reading too early. Harris was fibbing.

I don't make anywhere near a hundred thousand bucks a week. I mostly said that because I'm somewhat jealous of Matthew Broderick, and to make my fellow cast mates insecure about their representation. I'm sorry to have let you down.

Oh, and yes, "How I Met Your Mother" is actually a comedy. A rarity on the TEE vee.
posted by ?! at 9:56 AM on November 5, 2006

Oh, amberglow. How could you. He is adorkable

He has Frankenstein head! feh!

Give me Scott Bakula or Dempsey. : >
posted by amberglow at 1:01 PM on November 5, 2006